The first in a series of prestige format one-shots, each starring one of Batman’s most devious adversaries, launches with the Eisner Award winning team of Tom King and Mitch Gerads this August as they try to unpack the Riddler’s labyrinth-like psyche.
The initial Batman: One Bad Day 64 page special, is according to Gerads, a trip “…back to the roots of everyone involved, of Riddler, Batman, Gordon, everyone that I wanted to use in the book. I remember at the start, I told Tom that there’s all these tendencies to throw in 20 characters and all these Bat books, and I was like, no, I want this to be like an old animated series episode. It’s Batman, it’s Riddler, it’s Gordon; that’s it. And that’s basically what we did. I just got this opportunity to do exactly what I picture when I think of a Riddler/Batman/Gordon book.”
King described the experience of working with Gerads on the book as a different one this time around, specifically because of the “one and done” nature of the comic. King says that “It’s not a comic where you can just be like, ‘okay, that panel doesn’t work but forget it, there’s another one coming out next week.’ Maybe because of Mitch’s art coming in, but I couldn’t get that attitude about this comic. I just felt suddenly perfectionist about it. But yeah, it was a joy. It was a super fun challenge.”
Batman: One Bad Day: The Riddler will be released on August 16, followed by seven more one-shot stories on a monthly basis by the likes of Tom Taylor, John Ridley, Mariko Tamaki, G. Willow Wilson, Joshua Williamson, Xermanico, Ivan Reis, and more. Check out the entire list here and check out the cover and some preview pages by Gerads below.
